Hamburg sinks Man City 3-1 in UEFA Cup

Hamburger SV has come from behind to snatch a convincing 3-1 victory against Manchester City in the first leg of the UEFA Cup quarterfinals. Manchester City took the lead when Stephen Ireland opened the scoring only 30 seconds into the match that has 57,000 fans in attendance at the HSH Nordbank Arena on Thursday. Hamburg's defender Joris Mathijsen, however, managed to level matters after nine minutes by heading in a corner from Trochowski. Piotr Trochowski doubled the advantage for Hamburg by converting a penalty following a handball by Micah Richards in the 63rd. The Germans sealed the victory through substitute Jose Paolo Guerrero in the 79th when the striker knocked the ball into the roof of the net. Manchester City mounted several late attacks but failed to score any other goals. "Losing 3-1 has made things difficult, but we are not out of it," said Manchester City manager Mark Hughes. "We had a lot of injuries before the match, but we showed we can cause them problems in their defense. This is far from finished." Hamburg boss Martin Jol, however, warned against complacency in the second leg. "We have three goals, we could have had four so we cannot take the return leg lightly," the coach said. "I know from experience that things can change very quickly in England." The return leg of the match is scheduled to be held on April 16.